The Bar Association of Sri Lanka and opposition parties have raised concerns about the implications for judicial independence and public confidence. Prof Uyangoda’s analysis is useful here because it cautions against reducing judicial independence to the question of retirement age alone or individuals. Judicial independence depends not only on the conduct of individual judges but also on public confidence that the conditions under which judges serve are not being altered for political purposes. The retirement age debate should therefore become an opportunity to address these wider institutional deficiencies. The passage of the 22nd Amendment needs to be seen in this light to support the progress that Sri Lanka has begun to make.